southwestern students - Southwestern Law School

SOUTHWESTERN LAW
for students, alumni and friends of
Southwestern Law School
SOUTHWESTERN
STUDENTS
INTRIGUING BACKGROUNDS, INTERESTING PERSPECTIVES
T
here really is no such thing as “a typical
Southwestern student.” Students here
hail from across the country and around the
world. Their age range spans decades. They
have completed undergraduate degrees at
hundreds of different colleges and
universities, in fields from art to science.
Many have entered law school more than a
year after college and are veterans of
careers
ranging
from
medicine
to
entertainment, accounting to zoology.
They have wide and varied cultural and
ethnic backgrounds. They speak dozens of
languages fluently. One of the major
reasons
that
students
choose
Southwestern is because they see the value
in the varied perspectives and life
experiences their fellow students bring to
the table. The following profiles feature a
few of our recent students from all four of
our J.D. programs.
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ALICIA MATRICARDI – DAY
Alicia Matricardi went to law school to “gain a
seat at the table.” She knew the degree would
help to open doors for her, enabling her to find
ways to help neighborhoods grow through the
use of the law: real estate law, health law,
transportation planning law, and family law. A
graduate of UC Berkeley, Matricardi worked at
a non-profit economic development company
that built housing specifically for low-income,
single-parent families, targeting Latinas who needed safe, decent,
affordable places to live and raise their families. She taught financial
literacy classes to teen moms at this development company, New
Economics for Women, and worked to raise money and organize the
construction and programming for a 10,000 sq. ft. building that would
combine primary healthcare services and economic development
programs for low-income families in Pico-Union.
While at Southwestern, Matricardi worked as a research assistant for
faculty, was active in the Latino Law Students Association, and served as
the Law Student Liaison to the American Bar Association’s Public
Utilities, Communications, and Transportation Law Sections. She wrote a
paper on Transportation Equity and the Bus Riders Union versus the Los
Angeles MTA, “Los Angeles Missed the Bus: Lessons in Transportation
Equity,” which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of
Transportation Law, Logistics and Policy. She was also awarded the
Hagman Scholars Award for her performance in Professor Kushner’s
course on Land Use Planning and Control.
Matricardi has long been interested in the way that cities work with
public and private institutions to create economic development
programs that help to empower people to think broadly about what
they could do to better their lives. Law school was the next step in her
plan to work towards building a career in this direction, and she is
excited about using her degree to continue this work in the future. MICHAEL MAGUIRE – SCALE®
Throughout his career, Michael Maguire has
played many roles: Wall Street broker,
Broadway star, international concert soloist,
and restorer of historic homes. Although he
continues to sing and restore homes when he
can, he put those passions on the backburner
to do something he has always wanted: pursue
a law degree.
The SCALE student has never been one to take the stereotypical path.
An undergraduate of the Oberlin Conservatory with a Master’s degree in
opera from the University of Michigan, Maguire decided not to wait
tables while auditioning for shows when he moved to New York. “I had
trained in opera, but I thought I should study acting before I started
performing in musical theater,” he said. “So I had a two-part plan: to
work on my acting and make enough money to get me through the
early acting years.”
Maguire grew up in Virginia and was a strolling troubadour in
Williamsburg, where he first began buying and selling stock. He
parlayed that early experience into becoming a Eurodollar broker in
Manhattan. This was in the early 80s, and Maguire pursued this lucrative
niche while studying acting, Brazilian martial arts and dancing.
“I worked ten hours a day and then went to classes, but I didn’t do what
lots of people normally do to struggle (for success in show business). I
had my own form of struggle.” And when he finally knew that he was
ready for the stage, he didn’t exactly receive a groundswell of support
from his Stock Market cronies. “Everyone who knew me thought I was
nuts to leave being a broker to go into musical theater.” But it paid off.
Maguire was eventually cast in the original Broadway production of “Les
Misérables,” playing Enjolras, a student revolutionary. He won the Tony
Award for his work and is also featured in “Les Miserables – The
Dreamcast in Concert” recording.
Maguire continued to perform on stage and in film, eventually settling
in Los Angeles. Until he started at Southwestern, he was an international
symphony soloist (over 300 symphonies) who also restored homes in
the Hancock Park area where he lives with his wife and children. The
second home he worked on was a historic landmark, for which he won
a Los Angeles Restoration Award in 1999.
Law school is a full-time job, especially for SCALE students who are
finishing their J.D. program in two years. So Maguire has put his touring
schedule on hold for a while. “The first three months were difficult
making the transition to being a student again. This was a challenge,
but as I’ve caught on, my grades have gotten better. I’ve always been
the kind of guy who likes to figure things out for myself. The learning
has been a joy.”
After going through a difficult divorce years earlier, Maguire wants to
practice family law. “I want to assist people who are going through this
to help them calm down, not spend all their money and not ruin their
kids in the process. Southwestern’s professors focus students on how to
help their future clients. They teach you it’s all about the people that
you’re working for and what you can do for them.” LEAH COHEN-MAYS – EVENING
Many people in L.A. will tell you that, no matter
what they do to bring home a paycheck, they
are really actors. Leah Cohen-Mays says that
she is a law student who just happens to work
as a professional actress. She enjoys providing
the voice of Cleo in “Tutenstein” on Discovery
Kids, teaching hip-hop to children at
Reflections Dance Studio in Woodland Hills,
and acting in commercials for Wal-Mart and
promos for the TV show “Monk.” She recently completed a stint on
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“Dance Revolution,” a Saturday morning program on CBS where she
coached kids to dance in an effort to encourage young viewers at home
to get off of the couch and move.
But the evening student is so much more than just another talent in a
sea of aspiring stars. Cohen-Mays uses her intelligence and enthusiasm
to contribute to her law school experience. Looking at her list of
extracurricular activities at Southwestern, one wonders where she finds
the time for showbiz and volunteer work. She is a member of the Moot
Court Honors Program, a writer for The Commentator, the fundraising
chair for the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), Secretary of the
Christian Legal Society, and as a member of the Public Interest Law
Committee, she served as Chairperson of the Trivia Bowl Challenge
during Public Interest Law Week, co-writing 175 questions as well as
hosting the competition. “I love this place!” Cohen-Mays said of
Southwestern. “I love the professors, the students, and Dean Garth. He’s
funny and cool and open to what you have to say.”
Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, and raised in Miami, Florida, CohenMays earned her Bachelor’s degree from Hampton University in Virginia,
where she studied biology and considered becoming a doctor. She was
in a Post-Baccalaureate program at the University of Miami when her
advisor suggested she work in a hospital to see if medical school was
the right decision before making the seven-year commitment to it. She
volunteered at the Miami Children’s Hospital where she realized the
medical profession was not for her.
After college, Cohen-Mays moved to L.A. and spent seven years
working in human resources at Capitol Records. If it seems that her
career pursuits have run the gamut, one thing is certain: she wants to
use her law degree to help others, especially youth in need. “I have
that crazy creative personality that I don’t know exactly what I want to
do, but I know what I want to eventually achieve – to be a judge,” she
said. “I’m considering the best path to get there while helping children
along the way.” ALYA HAQ – PLEAS
Early in her life, Alya Haq learned the
importance of exploring opportunities and
planning. She was born in Dubai where her
physician father had settled after graduating
from medical school in England. Originally
from India, many of his siblings had already
immigrated to the United States.
“My parents had looked ahead and felt that
this was the best opportunity for their kids,” she said. Fluent in both
English and Urdu, her family relocated halfway around the globe to
Northern California when she was 11 years old. Haq earned a Bachelor
of Science degree in Finance from Santa Clara University in 1997 and
married the same year. She worked in consulting and finance jobs until
2000 when she made the decision to devote herself full-time to starting
a family. She stayed at home raising her two sons until they were old
enough to start school. “I thought about going back into finance, but
nothing about the field excited me anymore,” she said. “Law was always
a childhood dream that I didn’t think was practical, but my husband
really encouraged me.”
Southwestern’s PLEAS program offered Haq the perfect chance to
pursue a law degree. “PLEAS is a great program geared to people in my
situation, not wanting to give up family life,” she said. The part-time day
schedule allows Haq to drop off her sons at school, attend classes at
Southwestern, and pick up the kids in the afternoon.
Professor Anahid Gharakanian’s LAWS (Legal Analysis, Writing & Skills)
class helped Haq enhance her writing. “She’s a demanding teacher, but
she really helped me improve my writing and take it to the next level,”
she said. Professor Gharakhanian, who is also the PLEAS faculty advisor,
“is a mentor and a wonderful role model.” Haq has also enjoyed working
with Professor Danielle Hart, and applying the principles she learned in
her Contracts II class to her other courses.
In an effort to keep up with familial and academic obligations without
getting overwhelmed, during these first years Haq has focused her time
at Southwestern primarily on her coursework. But she looks forward to
becoming more involved with campus activities during her third and
fourth years. As for her post-law school plans, Haq may pursue
something that would tie in with her financial experience such as
bankruptcy law. “But for now,” she said, “I am keeping an open mind
and exploring my options.” STEVEN DERELIAN – EVENING
Director Robert Zemeckis needed an actor to
yell at Tom Hank’s character, “Forrest Gump.”
He chose Steven DeRelian from a group of
extras to play a fellow wounded Vietnam vet in
the VA hospital scene where Forrest watches
TV and gave him five lines of dialogue. “When
the cameras started rolling, I couldn’t
remember any of them,” DeRelian recalled. “So
I just said the first thing that came to mind ‘Gump how could you watch that stupid (expletive)? Turn it off!’“
Zemeckis loved it and DeRelian had his first movie role.
As a student who transferred to Southwestern, DeRelian knows that life
can take you in as many directions as an epic movie. A part time
stuntman in film and TV, he realized he didn’t want to take physical risks
forever and entered law school with plans to become an entertainment
attorney. And although he relished the challenge and depth of
Professor Robert Lind’s copyright class the most so far, he now wants to
focus on family law, bankruptcy and perhaps even become a political
strategist one day.
DeRelian believes the best lawyers are those who bring a lot of their
own life experience to the table. And he’s got plenty of that. Raised in
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Santa Cruz, he began his undergraduate career at Lewis and Clark
College in Portland, Oregon, to study astro physics, but he said it was
“very ‘granola,’ just like home,” and he wanted something different. He
transferred to USC and earned his business degree in 1992. During his
senior year, he became a father. Two years as a junior broker in
investment banking made him yearn for some adventure. “I decided I
wasn’t really going to reach 40 without living life so I pursued a career
as a stuntman. All you have to do is look at my hook to know that I was
a risk taker in the past,” DeRelian said.
His right prosthetic arm, the result of an amputation, hasn’t stopped
him from pursuing a variety of jobs, including a brief stint as a “repo
man,” which proved too dangerous to stick with longer than six weeks.
Contrary to common perception, he did not lose his arm performing a
stunt. And he hopes that Hollywood might eventually evolve and cast a
character that just happens to be an amputee, rather than the lost limb
being the basis for the character.
Law school was a bit scarier than some of his stunts - or so he once
thought. He was intimidated when he sat in on a lecture at
Southwestern, so he first enrolled at Whittier Law School. But
Southwestern’s beautiful campus, provocative faculty and strong
connections with its Los Angeles alumni intrigued him too much.
Various note takers for each of his classes help him keep up with his
coursework, so his biggest challenge is lugging around all the books.
But he loves to read them. “I like the law business. I like that it’s a
‘thinking man’s game.’ You can be 70 and still do it.” AMBER ACUÑA – DAY
Amber Acuña leapt at the chance to help her
stepfather, a high school teacher, when he
chaperoned educational trips throughout
Western Europe. As she spent summers
touring the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the
United Kingdom, and Germany, she repeatedly
saw the United States’ influence on these
countries. “The world is a big place, but it’s
also kind of small,” said Acuña. “You can see
how American pop culture, entertainment, music and movies affect
people overseas.”
She initially majored in psychology at San Francisco State University, but
then took an Introduction to World Affairs course that piqued her
curiosity about international relations and a desire to go to law school.
The Orange County native ultimately found Southwestern a perfect fit
for her interests in global entertainment. The oldest of four daughters
and a fifth-generation American whose family lineage combines
Portuguese, Irish, French, Mexican, and Spanish ancestry, Acuña, isn’t
just the first in her family to go to law school; she’s the first to graduate
from college.
In addition to working part-time on campus, Acuña is active in student
organizations. As director of Club Activities and Ethnic Affairs for the
Student Bar Association, she’s been in charge of the Cultural Food Fair.
She is also on the board of the Women’s Law Association and helps
bring speakers to campus to talk about issues such as balancing work
and family. “My number one goal with these groups is to increase
student involvement with all things extracurricular around campus,”
Acuña said. “All of our classmates are our future colleagues, and getting
to know them now creates a feeling of community and belonging,
which we’ll hopefully build on during our careers.”
Over the summer, Acuña externed for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s
Office, Criminal Division (Pacific Branch) where she got a lot of
experience interviewing witnesses and observing prosecutors at work.
She sat in on jury selections and was quite flattered that lawyers asked
for her input. She also met a lot of Southwestern alumni, who she says
are really supportive. “They all give you advice and it’s a close
community.” ALEX RAMINFAR – EVENING
Alex Raminfar’s heavy involvement in law
school life is no accident. The evening student
has always believed in the importance of
seizing opportunities, making connections and
getting a head start. As an undergraduate at
UC Santa Barbara, he served as Controller for
the Associated Student Body and head
manager of the men’s basketball team. “I’ve
always been pretty active,” he said. “The most
important part of education is taking a proactive role, interacting with
students and professors. In law school, it really does kind of open your
eyes to more than just the casebook.”
During his second year at Southwestern, Raminfar was Student Bar
Association Vice President for the Evening Program. He was also elected
as the American Bar Association Governor of the 9th Circuit by the
ABA/Law Student Division. “The most important aspect of my job as
the Southern California and Hawaii representative to the ABA/LSD is to
stand for the collective voice of these schools and their students,” he
said. He recognizes that the time he puts into these efforts will also pay
personal dividends. “For me, law school is all about networking, and this
position has given me an incredible opportunity to make connections.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Raminfar is a first-generation American
son of Persian immigrant parents who seizes opportunities whenever
they arise. He is fluent in Farsi and recently spent time in Israel as part of
a birthright program.
Raminfar chose the part-time evening program at Southwestern
specifically so he could work during the day and loves his current job
with Warner Brothers Digital Distribution and New Media Clearance in
the corporate legal department. “Any kind of business law that gives
you the ability to counsel interests me. That’s why I enjoy it,” he said. “In
Entertainment Law it’s working for a common goal: getting the movie
done, getting the TV show done and I want to be a part of it.” 5
MARISA-ANDREA MOORE – PLEAS
Marisa-Andrea Moore didn’t always aspire to
be a lawyer. As an undergraduate biology
major at Scripps College, she was preparing for
medical school. But then she studied the
modern-day civil rights movement and Justice
Thurgood Marshall during her junior year. “That
was what really inspired me to go to law
school, looking at the genius that went into
Brown vs. Board of Education,” she said. “I
wanted to find out how to use the legal platform to help secure rights
for people.”
Moore’s college experience also shaped the way she thought about
diversity on campus, as many of her previous classmates had little to no
interaction with people of different backgrounds before coming to
college. When considering her options for law school, Moore was
determined to find an environment in which her fellow students had a
more global perspective, came from a range of socioeconomic
environments, and had different life stories to bring to the classroom.
She ultimately chose Southwestern because of “the accessibility of its
programs and the awesome community of students, faculty and staff
from all walks of life.”
Moore enrolled in PLEAS, Southwestern’s four-year, part-time day
program, which allowed her to work and attend to family matters while
completing her J.D. degree. She also found time to participate in some
of the Black Law Students Association’s (BLSA) activities. “BLSA and
other student organizations on campus help you naturally develop
camaraderie with other students of color, since we tend to share some
of the same issues and concerns,” she said. “The mentor program and
getting to know people who have been successful adds to the comfort
level of entering students,” according to Moore.
Despite a lot of initial self-doubt and with encouragement, particularly
of her legal writing professor, Moore surprised herself with a noteworthy
performance in the Moot Court Intramural Competition and did well in
all of her first-year classes. She was able to finance her law school
education through working (both on campus and as a paralegal/law
clerk for a Los Angeles attorney), financial aid, and scholarships.
During her third year, Moore had an externship with the Los Angeles
County District Attorney’s Office in Van Nuys and is interested in
eventually becoming a federal prosecutor, working for the U.S.
Attorney’s Office or another federal agency, such as the Securities and
Exchange Commission. With the confidence she has gained while at
Southwestern, Moore is looking forward to an exciting and meaningful
career. “Going through the law school experience has taught me to
believe that, as a black woman, I have a lot to contribute to the legal
community,” she said. “I have a lot to offer and I’ve learned not to be
afraid to assert that.” NEIL OLLIVIERRA – DAY
“A lot of people who know me are completely
shocked that I went to law school,” said Neil
Ollivierra. That’s because the Detroit native has
spent most of his life exercising his right brain
(the creative side) with remarkable success.
After studying film at Chicago’s Columbia
College, Ollivierra began working as a freelance
journalist for a number of European magazines,
covering American movies and music. That led
to a job at the electronic music record label Transmat, where he spent
eight years learning the ins and outs of the independent music
business. He produced his own album of instrumental ambient music,
which got scooped up by a label in London, and scored him a full-time
producing gig.
While Ollivierra – whose musical moniker is The Detroit Escalator Co. –
was working on paintings for one of his album covers in his warehouse
studio apartment, he was visited by a neighbor who liked what she saw.
She also happened to work for Detroit’s well known C-Pop Gallery, and
soon Ollivierra’s paintings were being sold to buyers from all over the
world.
Ollivierra said these experiences gave him the confidence to return to
his first and greatest passion – filmmaking. But he decided that before
jumping into the industry, he should “get a better idea of all the
collaborative relationships” involved in the business. “I thought law
school would be the quickest way to get a bird’s eye view of how to
develop film projects,” he explained.
Opting to study in the entertainment capital of the world, Ollivierra was
drawn to Southwestern because of its longtime commitment to the
entertainment and media industries. “I figured these people have got to
know what’s going on,” he recalled. Ollivierra says his studies have “filled
lots of holes” in his knowledge, particularly his classes at Southwestern’s
International Entertainment and Media Law Summer Program in
London. He said that while he has a bit more life experience than many
of his classmates, getting to know them has been one of the highlights
of his time at Southwestern. “There are really, really smart people here,”
he says. “I’ve been humbled.” ANN HENDRIX – SCALE®
Change doesn’t scare Ann Hendrix. She has
worked a variety of jobs, from bartender to
legal receptionist to bread shop proprietor and
lived throughout the United States. Now she
relishes the roles of law student and proud
Angeleno. She credits her periodic year-long
moves to the United Kingdom during her
childhood for feeding her curiosity about the
world. Born and raised primarily in Charleston,
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South Carolina, Hendrix said those stints in London during the early
1980s punk scene opened her eyes to “a whole different world of
people and ideas.”
Hendrix earned a B.A. in Sociology from Temple University and a
Masters in Industrial and Labor Relations from the University of
Wisconsin, where she graduated at the top of her class and received the
Melvin Lurie Memorial Prize for academic excellence. When her
husband wanted to move from Philadelphia to L.A. in 2004, she was
gung ho. She took a job as a contract recruiter and eventually became a
human resources specialist for AIG, one of the largest insurance
companies in the world. But after years of experience in that area,
Hendrix was ready to exit the corporate world and redirect her career.
“In HR, there’s a misguided notion that you’re a liaison to help the
employees, but the bottom line is that you work for the company
because they sign your paycheck,” she said. “I was always inclined to
pick the employees’ side.”
Hendrix decided to go to law school, and Southwestern’s accelerated
SCALE program was her first choice. “For me it was an easy decision,”
she said. “I was so excited to find a two-year program. I’m an older
student, and I’m very focused.” Although the SCALE program demands
an intense commitment, Hendrix has excelled, winning Second Place
Writer in the SCALE Moot Court competition, earning a spot on the Law
Review, and working to reestablish the Employment and Labor Law
Association with two of her fellow classmates. She finds time to mix her
human resources experience with her legal education, volunteering
weekly at the Workers’ Rights Clinic in El Monte. There, she helps
prepare wage claims, unemployment appeals, and expungement
petitions for criminal records with minor offenses.
“I’m really hoping to go into employment plaintiff litigation. My passion
is for wronged employees,” she said. “Work affects everybody. I see it at
the clinic, and I saw it in my own experiences. People spend so many
hours of their life at work that it’s important to me to know that people
are being treated well.” DAKAR DIOURBEL – DAY
When Dakar Diourbel took the LSAT on
Southwestern’s campus, he walked around the
Bullocks Wilshire building and saw an old
photo of one of the law school’s first
graduating classes of the early 1900s. “I
remember walking through the building and
looking in the display case and there was a
black man in the group. I was very impressed
because that picture was taken long before the
civil rights movement.” Then he saw a picture of the late Los Angeles
Mayor (and Southwestern alumnus) Tom Bradley. “I had moved to L.A.
and I thought Southwestern was the best option for me, so I decided to
go here.”
Born and raised in and around the suburbs of Chicago, Diourbel earned
two Bachelors degrees from Illinois State University: one in Occupational
Health and Safety and the other in Anthropology. Although he spent
part of his sophomore year living in Southern California and taking
classes at Los Angeles City College, he returned to Illinois to finish his
degrees and work in Occupational Compliance.
The youngest of eight siblings, he moved back to Los Angeles because
several of his brothers and sisters already resided here and he wanted to
live in a milder climate. Diourbel spent his first year in Southern
California working for Eastman Chemical. He started law school thinking
he would go into environmental law, representing plaintiffs against
chemical companies. But as he has continued to study and network
with local attorneys, his interest has shifted to criminal defense and
personal injury.
Diourbel has enjoyed his experience at Southwestern, working in the
fitness center since his first year, in what he calls “one of the most
coveted jobs on campus because you can get a lot of studying done
down here.” He also enjoys talking to the students who come to the
gym. “I’ve wound up mentoring first-year students, giving them advice.”
When he is not studying, Diourbel enjoys spending time with his family,
working out (he prefers weights), riding motorcycles and reading
anthropology books. Though he is almost finished with school, he has a
big decision to make: the location of his next step. “I’m making my
decision about where I’m going to take the bar: it will either be
California, Arizona, Georgia or somewhere else in the South.” ANNE GOLDIN – DAY
Anne Goldin’s writing didn’t just impress her
Southwestern professors, it made an impact on
the Ivy League. Her paper, “The California
‘Three Strikes’ Law: A Violation of International
Law and a Possible Impediment to Extradition,”
was one of eight student papers selected—
and one of only four from law schools other
than Yale—to be presented at Yale University’s
Sixth Annual Young Scholar’s Conference.
Goldin attended the event, where Dean Harold Koh of Yale Law School
provided her with feedback. “My argument was that the ‘Three Strikes’
law may be viewed by other countries as a violation of human rights
law, and this may lead to extradition conflicts,” she said.
A lead articles editor for the Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the
Americas (recently renamed the Southwestern Journal of International
Law), Goldin credits Professor Jonathan Miller with giving her the idea
for her article when she was a student in his Law Journal Seminar. She
said Professor Miller and other Southwestern faculty, including
Professors Lutz, Faerman, Raeder, Carpenter and Parrish, helped her
cultivate a passion for international human rights and criminal law and
provided her with feedback on her article, which she has sent out for
publication.
Although Goldin is originally from the Los Angeles area, her recent trip
back east to present her paper took her near familiar territory. She
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earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and B.S. in Business Administration
at Boston University. There she took a class about genocide around the
world taught by famed author, intellect and Holocaust survivor Eli
Weisel. His class piqued her interest in genocide and pursing a career in
international work.
She wanted to return to L.A. to pursue her law degree. “Southwestern
has a great reputation in Los Angeles,” Goldin said, and she seized all
the opportunities she could during her time in law school, completing
an externship through Southwestern’s summer program in Argentina
(she’s fluent in Spanish) and working two summers at Human Rights
Watch. She has also been a part-time paralegal at Hadsell & Stormer, a
civil rights law firm in Pasadena where she had the opportunity to work
on the Doe v. Unocal international human rights case.
With an interest in litigation, criminal and international law, Goldin
externed in the Public Defender’s Office where she was hired for fulltime employment after graduation. “I never thought I would be a
litigator before coming to law school,” she said. “However, I like writing,
and I am looking forward to developing my other trial skills.” THOMAS CASSARO – DAY
Thomas Cassaro is involved in finding methods
to resolve many issues in a city as large and
diverse as Los Angeles, from making
neighborhoods safe to finding ways to make
living near work affordable. “I’m interested in
things like how to make education work better
in a city where there is a lot of potential but
also a multitude of challenges,” he said. With
that impetus, he established the Public Policy
Group (PPG) at Southwestern to focus on people, agencies and tools
that can help people make positive changes in their lives. As president
of PPG, one of his goals is to publish a journal that will serve as a public
resource.
Cassaro’s path to law school has been far from traditional. Born and
raised in Chicago, he initially worked as a clerk at the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange and attended classes at DePaul University. But one
especially vicious winter in the mid-90s inspired him to move to Los
Angeles’ mild climate. One of his new roommates in L.A. was a chef
who cooked for touring bands. Cassaro had worked as a short-order
cook in high school, and soon he too went on the road as a sous-chef.
“It was a great time. I traveled extensively,” he said. He first toured with
the Rolling Stones. He also prepared food for Tori Amos, Phil Collins and
Sarah McLachlan and learned to cook regional cuisine, depending on
where they were.
Several years later, it got more difficult to live on the road and another
friend connected him to a similar job for movie catering, which
wouldn’t require as much travel. Cassaro fed the casts and crews on the
sets of several films from “Castaway” to “The Haunting” to “The Grinch
Who Stole Christmas.” He also went on to complete his B.A. degree in
history at UCLA. During this time he became involved with the
community, working on social justice issues for Los Angeles Friends of
Tibet, where he was honored as 1999 Volunteer of the Year. A Santa
Monica judge he met through this organization encouraged him to
pursue a law degree.
In addition to his involvement in the PPG, Cassaro served as president
of the Native American Law Students Association, although he himself
isn’t of Native American heritage. “My grandfather was a Native
American history aficionado and it was one of my focuses at UCLA,”
he said. “Plus, I had Professor Riley (who is a justice of the Potawatomi
Nation) for Property during my first year at Southwestern, and she really
inspired me.” VIVIAN BODEY – DAY
Vivian Bodey enjoys taxes. No, really. In fact,
she likes one of life’s only certainties so much
that she has already accepted a position with
the IRS, Office of the Chief Counsel as a tax
attorney after she graduates from
Southwestern. She is also the only law student
working on a treatise for corporate attorneys
through the ABA Section on Business Law,
Committee on Tax, entitled Taxation of
Corporate Transactions: A Handbook for Business Lawyers. She has
authored a chapter and is creating checklists and diagrams for the
publication.
Scholarship is very important to Bodey, who wants to eventually teach
tax law at Southwestern. She already has two articles being published:
one on fast food products liability for Trinity Law Review and another on
Interspousal Contracts for the Southwestern Law Review where she
currently serves as an Associate Editor. She has also contributed a few
articles for a forensic evidence book.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Bodey came to the United States with her
family when she was 5 years old and grew up in the San Fernando
Valley. The daughter of a cancer researcher father and psychologist
mother, Bodey majored in Economics at Whittier College. “I knew since I
was a little girl that I wanted to be a lawyer,” she said. “I watched Perry
Mason and said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ But my mom panicked
because she thought I meant that I wanted to be an actress. She was
relieved to find out that I wanted to be in a real courtroom.”
Southwestern was an easy choice for Bodey as she sought to stay in Los
Angeles. “I wanted diversity, an urban setting and an opportunity to
interact one-on-one with faculty, which I knew I would get at
Southwestern,” she said. “I love the students and the faculty at
Southwestern. No other schools compare.”
And she has parlayed her affection for Southwestern, tax law and
scholarship into a bevy of extracurricular work, including participation in
8
the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which helps lowincome individuals file tax returns every Saturday through tax season.
During the Fall semester she externed for the Hon. Arthur L. Alarcón,
Senior U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, and participated in the
Latino Law Students Association’s Hoover Elementary School Toy Drive.
She also works part time for local law and accounting firms. And in her
free time she’s happy to help students study, including her brother,
Bela, an evening student. In addition to working for the IRS after
graduation, Bodey will likely pursue an LL.M. in tax law. “Tax law is a
guiding light behind any corporate transaction,” she said. “It’s very
interesting and challenging.” HILDY AGUINALDO – DAY
Hildy Aguinaldo says that the beauty of law
school is that it gives you options. As president
of the Asian Pacific American Law Students
Association (APALSA), member of the Moot
Court Honors Program, and an editor of the
student newspaper, The Commentator, she
approaches each day with ingenuity. Even
though she loved her undergraduate
experience at UCLA, Aguinaldo said that
Southwestern presents students with the chance to be creative and
shine in their own ways. “If you go to a Harvard or Stanford you’re made
to fit into their mold,” she said. “At Southwestern, you can make your
own mold, do your own stuff. There’s so much you can do here.”
She works with APALSA’s seven board members and has cultivated a
multi-pronged venture that includes social, professional, and academic
development as well as community involvement. The organization held
an outline and exam writing workshop, open to anyone interested, in
which top scoring students from the previous year came and talked
about how they prepared for the tests so successfully. Aguinaldo also
enjoys mentoring students and credits her own family with giving her
terrific support. “My sister is my mentor. And so is my boyfriend… I
make him listen to all of my moot court arguments.”
During her last year at UCLA, Aguinaldo’s father had some health
problems, which she says were caused by tobacco. That influenced her
to go to law school. Her first thought was to explore health care law,
but she admits that there are so many things that interest her, she’s not
sure what area she wants to hone in on just yet. And as if she isn’t busy
enough, Aguinaldo has also been a paid intern with the Airport Division
of the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office since last May, writing up
complaints and memos and doing research on ordinances. “I enjoy
every single one of the things I’m doing, which are all intense but
flexible,” she said. © Copyright 2008 Southwestern Law School, 3050 WIlshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90010
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